The Fiber to the Home (FTTH) Council Americas has launched its "Online Community Toolkit," a resource aimed at community and business leaders looking to secure their economic future through ultra high-speed Internet connectivity by upgrading local networks to all-fiber. The toolkit offers an array of templates, white papers, case studies, and other features that are designed to assist civic leaders, local telecommunications providers, and other groups to finance, plan and build all-fiber-optic networks that are capable of delivering gigabit speeds and beyond.
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The Council's Web-based platform becomes available just days after the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), Julius Genachowski, issued a "Gigabit City Challenge" calling for every state to have at least one community where gigabit-speed broadband service is available by 2015, as reported by Cablinginstall.com's sister site, Lightwave.
"The recent experience that Google had in deciding where to build its Gigabit fiber network, and particularly the overwhelming expression of interest from across the U.S., was a clear indication that civic leaders know their communities need to have all-fiber networks in order to grow, to attract businesses, and to create jobs. Chairman Genachowski's recent challenge has underscored that America's future competitiveness is riding on how quickly we can move to all-fiber connectivity," commented Heather Burnett Gold, president of the FTTH Council.
To create the Online Community Toolkit, FTTH Council members reportedly contributed their own knowledge and experiences with regard to deploying all-fiber networks and providing high-bandwidth services. Additionally, the FTTH Council partnered with Gig.U, an organization that is working to help university communities bring in ultra-high-speed networks, in creating key elements of the toolkit, most notably a series of six detailed RFP templates aimed at helping any kind of project -- public sector, private sector, and public-private partnership -- understand and initiate critical steps of the design and construction process.
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Gold said the Council is also preparing a major event in Kansas City at mid-year at which a broad range of local civic and business leaders will have the opportunity to learn from communities that have already deployed all-fiber networks, as well as other experts who will offer guidance on getting their FTTH projects underway. Details on the event will be announced soon, she said.
"Clearly, the world is going gigabit, and it won't be long before this level of connectivity – which only all-fiber networks can provide – will be a requirement for our communities to stay competitive," said Gold. "We know that almost any community of any size can have ultra high-speed bandwidth, because many of our members are deploying next-generation, all-fiber networks in their service areas. Our goal for this new FTTH toolkit is to impart their experienced-based knowledge so that any community can get on board and be a part of the gigabit revolution."
Access the FTTH Council's Online Community Toolkit